Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday welcomed the prospect of Canada becoming an “associate member” of the E.U., just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the proposal as “laughable.”
Addressing the European Parliament as a guest of honor in Strasbourg, France, Carney insisted “Europe and Canada are stronger together” and said “Canada and the European Union can anchor our ground to hold our values while forming a protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive.”
Carney’s pivot toward Europe comes as he seeks to establish stronger international ties and curtail Canada’s reliance on the American market amid an all-out trade war. Canada’s retaliatory tariffs came into effect last week, matching the economic pressure imposed by the U.S. after negotiations collapsed last month. Trump’s repeated threats against Canadian sovereignty and calls to make it the “51st state” have added to the months-long tension.
While Carney did not directly mention Trump or his Administration while addressing European lawmakers, he appeared to make nods to the current volatility of Canada-U.S. relations and condemned economic coercions. Speaking about the "current geopolitical rupture," he said a "new dimension was needed.”
“Economic integration is now being weaponized, tariffs being used to exert pressure,” he said. “Financial mechanisms have been used for coercion. Supply chains constitute weak points to be exploited.”
Championing the burgeoning E.U. alliance, Carney focused on what he said were shared values between Canada and the bloc, insisting: "We are not fair-weather allies. We believe that our prosperity grows when it is shared."
“I'm not proposing a third bloc in order to become a 'great power' rival, only with better manners,” Carney continued. “We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”
Carney, who began his speech in French—one of Canada’s official languages—before continuing in English, with splatterings of German, welcomed how European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had on Wednesday opened the door for Canada becoming an “associate member” of the 27-member bloc.
When speaking about forging closer ties with the E.U., Carney referenced seeking strategic autonomy through “deep co-operation in the full range of strategic capabilities, including critical minerals, defense industrial capacity, AI and compute, energy security, space and payments.” He insisted Canada and Europe must not be dependent on “individual nations or individual companies” as this “creates vulnerabilities, particularly when supposedly global companies prove national in the breach.”
He also hinted at a potential freedom of movement between the E.U. and Canada that would allow “youth to work, study, and live where they want, on either side of the Atlantic.”
Carney’s passionate advocacy for the deepening of ties with the E.U.—a move he says Canadians have shown they’re in support of—came after Trump lambasted the idea of a new European dawn for Canada.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Trump called the proposal “laughable” and threatened economic punishments if the E.U. moves forward with von der Leyen’s plan.
"If they do that, if I think it's at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things," Trump said en route to an event in North Carolina. "If it's a good intention, that's fine. If it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.”
In response to Trump’s remarks, a European Commission spokesperson told TIME: “As president von der Leyen made clear [on Wednesday], the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength.”
Carney's speech to the European Parliament came on the final day of his stay in Europe, where he sought to cement and deepen Canada’s international relationships.
The E.U. is Canada’s second-largest global trading partner for goods and services, with bilateral trade worth approximately C$178.6 billion in 2025.
The Canadian leader also traveled to Liverpool, England, to meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The pair attended a football game and watched Everton—the team they both support—secure a victory against the Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"The leaders began by underscoring the close co-operation between the U.K. and Canada and emphasized the importance of building similar close ties with European partners, particularly on trade and defence,” a Downing Street spokeswoman told TIME.
Ahead of the meeting, Burnham called Carney a “great progressive leader” with whom the U.K. shares “so many values, but also with whom we have a shared opportunity on defense co-operation, on trade” and AI.
Following Burnham and Carney's meeting, it was announced that Canada has applied to join the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force military coalition.
The force, formally launched in 2014, consists of 10 North Atlantic NATO member states that deliver rapid response and security operations.
“Prime Minister Carney announced that Canada has formally applied to join the Joint Expeditionary Force and welcomed the U.K.’s support for Canada’s participation in this important initiative,” Carney’s office said in a statement.
Canada, already a NATO member, is seeking to diversify its defense dependency from the U.S. with new partnerships across the Atlantic.
In February, Canada became the first non-European country to participate in the "Security action for Europe” (SAFE) instrument, which provides up to €150 billion in low-interest loans to help member states purchase military and defense equipment.
Following von der Leyen’s proposal, a European Commission spokesperson told TIME that the executive cabinet will work “in close coordination with [its] member states and the European Parliament” to “create a new form of partnership that has not existed until now–building the closest imaginable form of association with a partner outside Europe.”
The proposed alliance is set to include deeper economic ties, a technology alliance, greater integration of defense industrial bases, and efforts to make the Arctic a flagship joint project. It could also expand cooperation on energy, critical minerals and batteries, as well as AI, quantum technology, cybersecurity, and economic security.
The E.U.-Canada summit set to take place in Montreal in late October will “provide the first meaningful opportunity to discuss these issues further,” the spokesperson told TIME.
The proposal has been welcomed by many European lawmakers across the bloc.
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Spain Javier Moreno Sánchez, who also serves as chair of the parliament’s delegation for relations with Canada, told TIME the decision to bring Canada in as an “associate member” was “politically and symbolically significant,” but warned it “must now be followed by concrete actions.”
Irish MEP Barry Andrews told TIME that the announcement is a clear “win-win for both sides,” adding that “in an ever more insecure world, truly democratic countries must come together and stand up to Trump, [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
Germany, the E.U.’s largest economy, also embraced the move, with government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius saying Berlin “welcomes the initiative for a particularly close partnership with Canada.”
The E.U., much like Canada, is seeking new partnerships amid a weakening alliance with the U.S. under Trump, following disputes over tariff threats, his lashing out at the NATO alliance, and his push to annex Greenland.
Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s Foreign Affairs Minister, told TIME the world is "living through the most serious security situation since the Second World War.”
“At a time like this, it is welcome that the E.U. is strengthening cooperation on European security. We also welcome the E.U.’s efforts to involve Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada and Iceland. Such an approach strengthens European security,” he said.
Norway and Iceland are not members of the E.U., but both belong to the European Economic Area (EEA), giving them close economic ties to the bloc through trade and free movement—a model from which Canada could draw inspiration.
Elsewhere, the “associate” membership proposal faced backlash.
French MEP Manon Aubry, co-chair of The Left group, told TIME there was “a serious question of method,” arguing that “a decision of such magnitude cannot be made by the president of the European Commission alone.”
